The present invention pertains to improved methods and apparatus for reading and printing data. The invention is particularly useful as a new concept in computer based systems for order handling and billing in the photographic industry. Such systems are designed to price all the work in a photographic processing plant while maintaining a data base for work in process and collecting data necessary to provide daily invoicing for completed orders.
In manual or semi-automatic operations an impediment in the work flow frequently occurs upon completion of processing. Negatives and prints are processed and the prints are evaluated as either good, remake or reject prints. Next, the orders are assembled and the prints and negatives are matched to the original customer order envelope. The orders must then be priced and the pricing data saved to produce dealer invoices, statements and management reports.
These operations are problematical when a photo-finisher has between 100 and 200 different types of work on a single price schedule. Further complicating the task, different methods of pricing may be offered for each type of work. For example, a develop only charge, develop and print charge, or different unit prices as the number of prints ordered increases, must be introduced into the computation of the price of each order being processed.
Modern machines have a faculty for handling media bearing machine readable encoded information relating to: identification of the source of the media, citing specific processing steps to be performed on the media or its contents, defining the pricing schedule to be applied to the finished goods and specifying the destination of the completed product. The quantity of media being processed by such a machine eliminates the feasibility of utilizing human reading of the media. Frequently the indicia are erroneously read on the first attempt as a result of ambient electrical or electro-magnetic interference or exposing the media to improper handling and storage conditions. For many years the necessity for an alternative to rejecting the erroneously read media as been well recognized. In past instances, the information was manually re-entered upon first rejection; however, this action interrupted the normal rhythm of the high speed continuous process being carried out in such machines.
Alignment of multiple printer hammers relative to the respective multiple character bearing portions of the printer wheel means is critical if human readable printing is to result. In the past, separate adjustment of each printer hammer was accomplished by moving each hammer apparatus after loosening the mounting screws which positioned that specific hammer. This action allowed each hammer to move freely and this movement was not restricted to a single plane due to the tolerance of the screws and adjustment slots. Therefore, it was a difficult and time-consuming task to effect the proper adjustment of all of the printer hammers to the required tolerances.
The printing means requires close tolerance between the hammers and the printer wheel. The carrier must pass through a guide slot in order to have the interpreted information printed on it, yet the carriers frequently have been folded or have dogeared corners. As a result, the printing operation has been plagued with numerous carrier jams.